Bird's Eye
by 0th Law
Summary: A normal person from Earth Bet wakes up with powers and knowledge of what will happen if she doesn't do anything to avert the destruction to come. (CYOA v5, Update Gimel).
1. Hatch 1-1

Hatch 1.1

 _AN: First Story that I'm actually posting, as such, I'd appreciate any & all constructive criticism. Please bear with me._

I woke up to the impact of falling.

 _Did I fall out of bed?_ I wondered briefly, before noticing my location. I was under the window to the opposite of my bed, meaning that I'd either fallen - or had been dropped - from the window, or I'd somehow rolled off the foot of my bed and only noticed when I was under the window. Needless to say, I jumped to my feet, looking around for any intruders. There was nobody visible.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" I said, as if I'd be able to get somebody to reveal themselves just because I'd asked. Yet again, no avail. I flipped on the lights and looked around, glancing at my alarm clock. "April 8th, 1:34", it read. _Perhaps I could disassemble it & design something to allow me to just know the time_, I thought, ideas entering my mind unbidden. _I'd need to insert it into- What!? My skull? Why did I even think of that?_

I tried to discern the source of these ideas, and I felt something, it was like a sound, an echo of concepts and technology that were far more advanced than anything on Earth Bet, yet felt like they were from a distant past. The ideas seemed to be of two distinct types, cybernetics and surveillance. I tried to make sense of what had happened.

Considering that I had probably been dropped from around the window, and I now had ideas for futuristic technology that came from the past, what most likely had happened was that some Cauldron operative had kidnapped me, force-fed me a vial, and then had Doormaker create a portal under the me of then to where I was now. _I wonder why they did it. Maybe it was part of one of Contessa's Paths…_ My thoughts trailed off as I realized the most important question: _How do I even know any of this!?_

I knew about Cauldron, the Entities, Shards, and the Golden Morning. I knew the civilian names of Armsmaster, Alexandria, Coil, and countless others. I'd only just realized that I knew this, and it was horrifying. The world could very well end in two years, and it was up to me to stop it, or, at the very least, make sure that Cauldron doesn't fuck things up as badly as they would've. In order to do that, I needed to figure out my capabilities. Conveniently, now that I was actually thinking about things, I knew what I could do, the actual source of my powers, and the most likely reason I had fallen from the window.

I was a Binary Tinker, specializing in "Technology Integrated with Natural Intelligences" and "Localized Surveillance". I was a Noctis Cape, and I also had a bullshit Mover Teleportation ability with a loose definition of "Line of Sight". My powers had apparently came from the Third Entity, due to it apparently trying to kill the Warrior and Thinker, for some reason. The whole "falling out the window" deal was probably due to my Shard trying to get my attention, so I could get on with… whatever I was doing.

My operations would need to begin with gathering allies. I had two followers: a Case 53 that I'd find that would be very useful for reconnaissance and assassination, and my… younger brother. I'd need to protect him from all of this _baggage_ brought by my knowledge. He was an Alexandria Package, with the strength coming from his peak physical condition, and the invulnerability coming from an ability that made things he touched indestructible, and an immunity to extreme temperatures, acid, and disease. He'd ideally be safe in combat, as he could create shadow clones capable of interacting with the world & using his powers. Beyond those two, my brother and I could join the Wards, me for the resources and him for the protection; however, I didn't know how I'd manage to join up with them without unduly risking my civ identity, so I'd need to go where I _knew_ a hero would be: the Lung fight. There, I could hopefully convince Taylor to join the Wards as well, probably by noting that she could probably be fast-tracked to Arcadia. Shadow Stalker would need to be dealt with, and I knew that if Taylor told Piggot about the bullying, she'd be essentially told to suck it up. Well, if I got her to tell Miss Militia instead, then while things may go more slowly, there'd definitely be a higher chance of the situation being resolved in a satisfying manner.

I didn't know when I'd meet the Case 53 that would follow me, so I decided to leave that thought be. As for my brother, I didn't want to wake him, so I resolved to speak to him about his new powers in the morning. Now, all I needed to do was to start preparing. First, I picked up my phone _-which could be so much better, I could miniaturize- No! Stop, brain-shard, whatever, no tinkering right now-_ and took a picture of my room before pocketing it: I could use it to Blink back to my room if I ever needed to. I had a secret base, apparently, and I knew where it was, somehow. Knowing this, I put a bandana on around my face, as well as clothes - including a hoodie - and reflective goggles. I turned off the light, waited for my pupils to dilate enough for me to see out the window, teleported outside, and began to head to my lair.

The night air was cool, encroaching, with the mist from the bay obscuring most things that the darkness didn't. We lived above my dad's Karate Dojo on the Boardwalk, where the enforcers gave us sufficient protection from the ABB, trying to recruit us, and the E88, trying to kill us. We'd immigrated from Japan in the wake of the turmoil caused by Leviathan's sinking of Kyushu, I was six at the time, Daishi was three. I hadn't fit in much as a kid, what with learning a new language and all, so I'd mostly retreated into learning whatever practical skills I could, thinking that I could be the first actual unpowered hero, like in those old Batman comics. Needless to say, when my parents found out about my ambition, they gave me a reality check. I also really got into Aleph anime and games, especially sci-fi.

I followed the path my "memories" laid to my base, going towards the downtown area, making sure to stay as far from the docks - and ABB territory - as I could. The walk was uneventful, surprisingly, and I made it to the base in roughly twenty minutes, not in part due to my copious "blinks".

It was a hidden door in an alleyway, looking like an oddly patterned set of bricks. If I hadn't known it was there, I'd had disregarded it entirely. I pushed one inwards easily, felt around the place it was in, found a handhold, and pulled the wall towards me.

I heard the sound of gears clunking as the section slid forwards on invisible tracks, until it was roughly a foot from the rest of the wall. It then split down the middle, each half swinging out to reveal a staircase. That was strange, there weren't any hinges, and there was no fissure in that part before… _Tinker Bullshit,_ I sighed. _Well, at least I'll be able to join the bullshit squad now._

As I began to descend, lights flickered on, meaning that either A) Only the door was Tinkertech, due to the person who owned this place not being one, B) the Tinker didn't bother with fancy lights, or C) this place hadn't been used in a very long time. I was betting on that last one.

When I reached the bottom of the staircase, the first thing I saw was a rack of costumes of the bodysuit variety, designed to look like the spandex stereotypically worn by capes, and in roughly every size and variety you could think of. Past that, there was a row of thirty-odd machines that each had a different variety of fabric protruding from it, as well as a couple that seemed to be designed for assembling a costume around a mannequin, even a machine that, based on the set up, seemed to be for designing a mannequin for a person that stepped into what looked like a kolto tank, minus the kolto. Another part of the main room had a bunch of tables of tools tech that was in varying states of development. A closed door led to another part of the base.

I knew what this was. It was a Tinker's workshop, a fabric or clothing Tinker, by the looks of it...

And everything was caked in dust.

As I drifted towards the workbenches, my legs seemingly moving of their own volition, I began to plan what I needed: _A whole lot of surveillance systems, I'll need to be able to see anything in the city if I want to take my Mover ability to function optimally. Maybe I could disassemble that mannequin machine to see if anything in it would help. From there, I'll need a way to transmit those images to my vision. I could just make a HUD, or I could construct a neural link to make it so that I can sense everything my tech does… but then I'd need to do personal brain surgery, and I can't trust myself to miss the visual and auditory cortexes when I can't see what I'm doing. I could repurpose those costume-assemblers into mechanical brain surgeons…_

My thoughts trailed off as I sat down and began to tinker.


	2. Hatch 1-2

Hatch 1.2

 _"Universal Neural Restraint (prototype 6) testing in three, two, one."_

The voice in my head was calm and reassuring, just as I designed it to be, before a mechanical arm painlessly inserted a device into my thigh... and pulled it back out, the flesh re-sealing behind it. I was momentarily confused as to why it immediately pulled it out, but then I realized what had happened. To confirm that; however, I told my Mental Interface, _"Play UNR 0.6 test"_. It complied, a vision of me laying on the auto-mod table I'd constructed appeared in my not-so-proverbial mind's eye. In the vision, It showed the UNR being placed into my thigh, remaining there for ten seconds, and then being removed.

The Universal Neural Restraint was based on a device I'd made earlier that night: the Spinal Neural Restraint. The latter was meant to suppress conscious thought and movement during surgeries and implantations, allowing for me to skip the surgery, with all the time & pain involved, and making sure that my thoughts wouldn't interfere in the integration process. The Universal one could, in contrast, be used on any part of the body, and was designed for crime fighting, as a perp (read: Lung) that didn't think at all would be unable to resist arrest. Granted, it would need to be used pretty early on if I was using it against Lung, but the same went for anything that would work better against a human than against a dragon, which means most things. If I needed to, I could copy Taylor and jam it into his eye, but I'd like to think that I was at least slightly more reasonable. I don't think that I'd ever need to cut out someone's eyes... except for my own, anyway.

 _"What time is it anyway?"_ I asked my Interface.

 _"5:47."_ It responded.

Shit, I'd been Tinkering for nearly four hours? It wasn't unexpected from what I knew about them - us now - but _still_ , I'd completely lost track of time. I picked up my phone, which I had been careful not to modify - visibly, anyway - and mentally ordered it to bring up the picture I'd taken of my room. I then felt for my Blink ability, "saw" the non-existent distortion, and _pulled_. Human languages really were ineffective at describing the mechanisms of Multidimensional Alien Symbiotic Supercomputers. " _Note to self, never use that as an acronym"_.

 _"Note Recorded"_ , my Interface responded, as I appeared in my room. Now, all I had to do was wait until the time I typically got up - 6:15-ish - and then "wake up", and go through my daily routine.

While I waited, I decided to do the obvious thing, and plan how to tell Daishi about everything, or at least, everything he _needed_ to know. I could talk about it at breakfast, but then I might end up revealing my base to him and my parents, and I planned to use it for "Ghost", as I was planning to name my Case 53 companion. On the other hand, I could pass him notes referring to the fact that I knew about his powers and that we should join the Wards after I debut in the Lung fight... but that would pose bigger concerns, like _how_ I knew about them in the first place. _This deserves much more thought_...

... Or, y'know, Daishi could just invalidate all of my plans on how to break the news to him. He'd just gotten out of bed, as he showered at night instead of in the morning like a _normal_ person, and was currently floating through the air towards our kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. It was 6:45, Mom was already at work in one of the tech firms downtown, and Dad... also just happened to be walking by. " _Note to self: Future plans need to factor in Murphy's law,"_ I thought, annoyed, as my Interface told me that it was recorded. Thankfully, Tinker Bullshit let me ignore the possibility of any memory issues cropping up, considering how many "Notes to Self" I'd probably end up making. _Now, to deal with the matter on hand_.

Dad, as usual, took things in stride. "Son? When did you become a cape?" He asked cautiously.

"Morning, Dad," Daishi replied, yawning, "What about capes?"

I decided to interject. "Daishi, either you're a parahuman, or one is levitating you. Dad, I believe the answer to your question is 'around One in the morning'. I infer this because at around that time, I teleported out of my bed and began having ideas for Tinkertech." At that point, a faintly shimmering copy of Daishi appeared, floated into the kitchen, poured itself some cereal, and unsuccessfully tried to eat it. All our eyes tracked it as it did so, each "chew" only producing blunt impacts. "On the other hand, you, apparently, can fly and use Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, but you can't chew. Good to know."

"I think I can turn it off," he responded, prompting the clone to actually start chewing.

"I'm tempted to start yelling at either of you, but I realize that it's a stupid impulse, and, frankly, this is just too interesting." Dad added in his own two cents. "Say, where would the food even go once the clone disappears?"

"Probably the same place it came from, which raises the question of where _exactly_ is it from? In order to answer that question, how much control do you have over it, Daishi?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, young grasshopper, if you have complete control over it, then it's a clone directly controlled by you, alternatively, if you have very loose control, then it's probably a self from a different reality partially manifesting here."

"What's the difference?"

"Ethical ones, mainly. If it's from another reality, then when the clone dies, so does the exact existence that it is projected from... sometimes, maybe... it depends. If it's a simple clone you created, then the ethics are much simpler, Non-sentient clone dies, boohoo."

"In that case, then it's probably the second, I even have control over its breathing." With that, the clone began holding its breath. After about half a minute, it winked out of existance, having fully used up its air supply. This, of course, prompted Daishi to start eating the breakfast.

"Aside from situations like that, why would one die in the first place!?" Dad asked, incredulous.

"Parahumans pretty much need to use their powers for conflict, and get... antsy if they don't. Ever wonder why there are so few Rogues? And why they're called that instead of something like 'Powered Civilians'? That's why. Because of this, I recommend that the both of us join the Wards, thereby being able to be heroes while having the most protections available."

"That- that makes sense."

"However, there isn't a way to join them, as far as I know, that doesn't provide undue risk to our civilian identities. As such, starting Sunday, I will patrol during some nights, only fighting when I'm 100% confident that I can win, and when I call it in, then I can join the Wards. From there, I can teleport Daishi in discretely."

"Okay, I see you've put a lot of thought into this, Yuri..." He trailed off.

"I'm sensing a 'but'."

" _But_ , you should probably start going to school now, Daishi needs to get ready for school, and I need to get ready for my students. We can talk about this at a more reasonable hour, when people _aren't_ spontaneously creating clones of themselves to eat breakfast."

I grinned, "Okay." _I... don't want this to end, but I may need to end it myself._ I thought, turning away to prevent Dad from noticing the change in my expression. I grabbed my backpack, headed downstairs, got onto one of the busses downtown, and waited to arrive at school.


	3. Hatch 1-3

Hatch 1.3

The bus ride to school was uneventful, as it normally was, given that it went between the relatively safe Boardwalk and Downtown areas, so I didn't see any gangbangers on the ride to Arcadia, which was nice. Even if I did, they'd probably not to start anything, due to public transportation being a "neutral" zone. I really could see why the ferry needed to be rebuilt: it would provide commerce to the northern areas beyond the Boardwalk. I sighed, _Brockton Bay is a shithole, news at 11._

Well, seeing as I was going to Arcadia, knowing at least the names of the Wards, I may as well try to play "Spot the Ward!". I chuckled lightly to myself as the bus stopped near the school. It was on the top of a hill, surrounded by a decorative vine-colored wall. The windows were tall, without the hexagonal pattering that would be added after the school was rebuilt after... Leviathan and the Nine. My whole "memory" thing, wherever it came from - presumably my passenger - was odd in how it functioned. I'd _know_ things, but I wouldn't be _aware_ of the knowledge until I consciously thought about it. I suppose that it's like normal memory, just that I don't have the proper context for, well everything.

I walked up the hill and into the school, lost in thought. _"Interface, start recording,"_ I thought, receiving an affirmation. If I was going to plan, then I may as well record my thoughts as they form, as well as my surroundings, allowing me to a) look back at my thought process to think about alternate solutions to things, and b) pretend that I had been listening if somebody got my attention, thereby helping to conceal the things that I was doing. I needed to know the exact cause-effect relationship of everything that would have happened - will still happen - if me or mine don't get involved. The Lung fight causes the ABB's grudge on the Undersiders - no, that was already a thing due to the casino robbery, meaning that it only _heightened_ the ABB's grudge. It also caused Lung's capture, which was more important than the previous effect in starting the gang war, and the fateful meeting that causes Halbeard to fail recruitment negotiations forever - instead of getting somebody on his team, he made that person become a villain. That causes the Bank Robbery to succeed - assuming that the Undersiders would have lost without Taylor - and, of course the gang war with the ABB. The kidnapping of Dinah would've happened regardless of whether or not the Bank Robbery succeeded, and that plus the existence of Tattletale would've allowed Coil to hire the Travellers. The gang war causes Coil to accelerate his plans, leading to the outing and attack of E88. The gang conflicts involving the ABB and E88, as well as the presence of Noelle, are ultimately what causes Leviathan to attack Brockton Bay.

I wanted to intervene in the Lung fight, causing Taylor to be recruited into the Wards. This would allow the Undersiders to be captured during the Bank Robbery, while I could have Ghost (assuming he turns up sometime soon) watch Dinah, follow her kidnappers to Coil's base, and if Ghost could tell when a given power was active, I'd have him wait until Coil's power wasn't active for any given amount of time, then pull the trigger. Though this is all assuming I manage to make contact with Ghost soon enough for me to cement his loyalty, give him his orders, and give him enough time to Tinker up a decent gun. This way, Coil wouldn't be able to give the Travellers enough reason to sign on, as Tattletale would be in prison, and he'd be unable to break her out before I killed him. To be fair, it would be Ghost killing him, but I was planning on more or less using him as my invisible hand, my boogeyman, if you will. _Heh, take that Contessa! Maybe I'll have him wear a duster and a stetson just to mess with you... Except trying to piss Contessa off - even if she's unlikely to find out, initially anyway - is a monumentally stupid idea. "Note to self: Don't mess with Contessa, no matter how Fedorable she may be"_. I shook my head. Pissing off Contessa _would_ really be a terrible idea.

Anyway, back on track. I could prevent the Bakuda Bombings - _"Note to self: Just call it Bakuda's Rampage. 'The Bomb Bombings sounds just weird"_ \- by just making her Ghost's target. I could have him kill her after he kills Coil. She'd have some time to create bombs that would be useful if the worst came to pass, being that Leviathan and the Slaughterhouse Nine still attack, and considering not one hour ago, I told myself to make sure all future plans take Murphy's Law into account... yeah, I'd need those bombs. Oni Lee would probably go on a rampage with the bombs she made for him, but he could be countered by a combination of Grue's Darkness (because why wouldn't you use the villains that you captured to fight big threats, with a deal that they'd be sef free if they help) and Taylor's bugs, presumably carrying a UNR. _So!_ I thought, _That is a plan that should work to decrease the likelihood of an Endbringer attack. "Interface, you can stop now"._

Now that that was out of the way, I could actually focus on my education. Classes hadn't started yet, so I went to my homeroom and prepared for the epic game of "Spot the Ward" that I would have today.

 _WHY IS THIS SO DIFFICULT!? All I want to do is spot a couple people I have a scant description of, some of which probably aren't even here, in a school of over one-thousand people!_ I thought, bitterly, as I trudged toward Arcadia's cafeteria.

"Why the long face?" Somebody asked me, having ran up to my side. I turned my head.

"Hi, Kira," I said to the blonde, "It's just that recently, most of my plans are more or less just _deciding_ to fail, consciously."

"What do you mean by that?" She inquired as we walked into the lunch line.

"It's just that... recently, I discovered something, and I'm failing at turning that thing into a tangible advantage. I'm trying to, but all of my ideas for short-term and minor gains are just coming up short."

"Well, you were never one for 'short-term and minor'. You probably have made progress, but are ignoring those progresses, listing them as simply 'preparation' in your mind."

We sat down at a table. "You know me that well, huh?" I replied, amused.

"Well, somebody needs to give you an honest analysis of your personality." She told me, smirking.

"And I can't?"

She popped a grape into her mouth. "Nobody sane can, that's what friends are for."

"I suppose that's true." We sat in silence for a couple minutes, finishing our lunches.

"So..." She trailed off, "Do you want to talk about this discovery?"

I grimaced, looking down. "No. I won't- can't."

"Which is it? You can't, or you won't?"

"Both, either, I don't know."

"Let's start with 'can't'. Why can't you?"

"Because it's dangerous."

"Am I right in assuming that that is also why you won't?"

"Yeah."

"On a scale from one to ten, how dangerous is it?"

"What's a ten?"

"Knowing about it brings assassins to your doorstep."

"Nine and a half, I'd imagine, but I should be safe until I start actively influencing events."

"You're jo- no, you're not joking. When do you plan to start this 'active influence'?"

"A couple days."

"Okay, so, after school is over, we are going to go to a place where we can be sure not to be interrupted, and you are going to tell me everything."

I looked up, incredulous. "No!" I said.

"Yes, you are going to tell me everything, because nobody can deal with that sort of thing alone," she said, grasping my hand, "I don't know what thing this is, but I can tell you're stressing over it, a lot, so I'm going to help you."

"Okay," I said, sighing, before I looked back at her with a grin, "Okay. You do realize that I am not obliged in any fashion to do that?"

"True, but you love me too much to not do so." She answered with a grin of her own.

"You took the words right of my mouth." It was at that point that we noticed that most people were leaving the cafeteria. "We should probably get to our next class," I said, "I've developed a newfound appreciation of biology."

"Lucky you, I guess. See you after school!" She skipped off. How she was so cheerful was beyond me, but I increased my pace a tad.


	4. Hatch 1-4

Hatch 1.4

I waited at the door of school for Kira, silently wishing that she'd give up on making me tell her about everything, even though I knew she wouldn't. She'd do her best to share the emotional burdens of her friends, even when said friends _really_ wanted to keep them private. I could understand why, though. If you saw a person in trouble, if you were at least a decent person, you'd try to help them, unless the trouble had the potential to physically harm you. I supposed that that was the main disadvantage of being an empathetic person: you'd get involved in things that could harm you in order to help others. _Granted, I'm not much better_ , I thought derisively.

My contemplation was interrupted by Kira clearing her throat in front of me. I looked up. "Are you done with your brooding?" She asked.

"I do not _brood_ , but yes."

"So, where are we going? Your room, my room, or somewhere else?"

"I choose answer D: A & C."

"Lead on, then." She implored, and I did just that.

We got onto a bus, sat down, and waited for it to reach the Boardwalk.

Thankfully, my dad's class for people of high-school age had yet to begin, in order to accommodate people that came from schools farther away in Brockton Bay, such as Immaculata. This meant that he was more or less on break when we got to the Dojo. Of course, from another perspective, this could be a disadvantage, as he would probably notice if we weren't in my room eventually, which in turn would lead to some questions that I'd rather not answer - for his own good, of course. Therefore, we probably-

"Hi, Mr. Gushiken!" Kira said, completely oblivious to my plans. I really should've talked to her about that while on the bus, but what was done was done, now I needed to come up with a believable excuse for us to go into my room, yet not make any noise... _Well, I could construct a sensor-activated speaker that makes it seem like we're doing something that he wouldn't look in on... perfect_.

"Hello, Kira. It seems that you've gotten Yuri to bring you over. Has your family been... obstructive, lately? Or is it about... that other thing?" Dad greeted, walking past the threshold of the main part of the Dojo into what amounted to the "waiting room". He was wearing his black karate gi, making his short - albeit built - stature less apparent. He still seemed - was - short, but a short person in a gi was substantially more intimidating than a short person in business casual.

Kira was about to answer with an affirmation of the second, so I nudged her quickly, before pursing my lips and saying "The former, you know how it is with them." Both of their eyes widened in understanding of what were most likely two very different things, respectively.

"Well, I won't disturb you two, then." Dad said, chuckling as he walked back into the dojo. When he was out of earshot, Kira rounded on me.

"You haven't told your family?" She said.

"Well, I've told them _some_ , but nothing that rates a 9.5, so to speak. You could tell that he knew something about... it."

"Well, that's true. So, shall we?"

I grinned, "Follow me." We went up the stairs into my room, and I pulled down the shades to make sure nobody from the outside looking in could tell what we were doing, then I locked the door. At the same time, I thought, _"Interface, show live feed from SecCam-12."_ With that, a live feed from my lab began being transmitted to my visual cortex, showing that it was just as I had left it. I turned back to Kira, and held out my hand, prompting her to raise an eyebrow in amusement.

"You're being much less moody now than you were before." She observed.

"What can I say? Your good mood is infectious."

"I can't argue with that. On a related note, why are you holding out your hand?"

"Just take it, then you'll see why." I sighed.

She shrugged, and grasped my hand. Right after she did so, I found that non-existent, invisible distortion, focused it, and _pulled_. From Kira's and my unaugmented view, it looked like another setting was dragged over us from the direction that I was looking in, even though my lab had been to my right, southeast from my room. As the trippiness that thankfully wasn't on par with that of the Non-Euclidian Horror, Vista, ended, Kira shook her head, seeming to be trying to shake said trippiness from her mind.

"So, you have powers now," she said in a monotone before lighting up, "that is so cool! What can you do?"

"It _is_ cool, and I can also tinker with Surveillance and Implants."

"Those seem completely unrelated."

"You would be correct in that assessment, though, speaking of Surveillance, I'll need to quickly create a device. I'll explain some things while I'm building, drop the device back into my room, then I'll finish when I return."

Her face turned serious again, "This isn't everything?"

"It isn't," I agreed, "When I got my powers, I also received knowledge about what would happen if I don't interfere..."

"Well, shit." Kira said when I'd finished.

"Yeah, I know," I concurred, "but since I can't trust Cauldron any farther than I can throw them, and alerting people who triggered naturally may cause their Shards to inform Scion, well, you understand."

"So I do. Now, I have a few questions."

"Go ahead and ask."

She looked at me in the eyes, bemused, and said, "About the earlier stages of your plan, how exactly do you plan on managing to stick Lung with your Neural Restraint before anybody reacts?"

"Well, I... uh..." I faltered, before thinking of something that would actually work, "I could make a couple and ask Skitter to use her bugs to carry them! Yeah, that'll work."

"And do you think a bug would be strong enough to reliably stab him with one of those?"

She was really good at pointing out flaws in my logic, not that that was anything new. "I could design them so that they automatically latch onto something, then pull themselves in."

"Okay, and how do you plan on finding the location of this fight?"

I already had an answer to that one. "I'll make a Radar that would, among other things, be disrupted by Grue's power, and that will allow me to learn the general vicinity of them. From there, I'll monitor an area of about a klick in radius around said disruptions. Once that's done, finding a lone figure on a rooftop will be relatively easy."

"Good. You may be able to do long-term planning fairly well, but you do have a bad habit of forgetting the little things."

"I think we've already talked about this, before."

"True, that. Now, we probably should get back before your family gets suspicious."

I sighed. "Yeah, you're right." I made to take her hand, but she held up a finger.

"However, seeing as you don't need to sleep, can you teleport me here at night so you can apply really convenient upgrades to me, such as not needing to sleep?"

"Sure, just send me a picture of your room when you want to." I said, chuckling. I then put my had on her shoulder, called up an image of my room, and teleported us back.


	5. Hatch 1-5

Hatch 1.5

My mother cleared her throat. "Why are you going to put off joining the Wards until you encounter another hero, again? It doesn't seem like the best idea to go out on patrol _before_ you have access to reliable backup."

I sighed, and began to explain for the fourth time. "I plan on not interfering with anything that I cannot reliably deal with on my own. If I encounter a villain, I'm going to simply notify authorities, and then track said villain until other heroes are there to help me. Compound _that_ with the fact that a meeting anywhere else has a greater chance of causing my identity to be discovered - or worse, being labeled a villain - you get the idea." She wasn't the sort of person to press an issue, but when she did, she was quite persistent. Even so, I could tell that I'd finally wore her down.

Dad spoke up. "Okay, are we all on the same page? Yuri spends her nights Tinkering and patrolling until she encounters a Protectorate hero, then asks them for a spot in the Wards for her and Daishi." There were murmurs of assent from around the dinner table. "Now, I've done a bit of research, and it seems that parahumans gain powers from traumatic 'Trigger Events', and I can't think of anything that could be such from last night. I have to ask, have we been missing something? Have you gone through something terrible with us just... not noticing?"

I shrugged. "I guess we just... got them? Perhaps we had nightmares? Though the chance of simultaneous, trigger causing nightmares is low, I guess it's possible? I'm just as lost as all of you." I really was. Why Abbadon would decide to come to Earth, give _only_ me a Shard, then leave is beyond me. As for Daishi, perhaps Abbadon forced a trigger, even though that's quite unlikely, as that would be influencing a shard of the Warrior- _Best not to think too much about it, it isn't relevant to my situation, at least not right now._

They contemplated that for a bit, then Daishi spoke up. "Well, it's as good of an explanation as any, I'm going to go shower." He... was an odd one, to say the least, not that it should surprise me, seeing as I'd lived with him for most of my life. I shrugged, stood up, and spoke.

"That sounds like a good thought, I'mma clean this up, then get back to Tinkering."

When I got to my workshop, I walked forward, already planning out what I'd do, and immediately walked into something that appeared not to be there. I immediately realized what was going on. I had just walked into Ghost, the Case 53 that would serve as my will in the coming days, in the things I needed to do, yet could not be associated with.

"Who... are you? Who am I?" He said, losing his invisibility. He was slender, covered in what seemed to be closer to fur than hair, a weird reflective, metallic mesh almost. His tatoo was located on the base of his neck in plain view, while his eyes were completely blank. _That gives me an idea_.

I channeled Kreia the best I could, and spoke. "I am your master, while you are, for lack of a better term, my will. Your name is Ghost."

"Oh- Okay. What are your orders, master?"

"You are to go where I cannot, to do that which I cannot. You are to carry out my will when I must not be associated with the acts. Those are your more general orders, your... purpose, if you will. More specifically, your commands are as follows: allow me to give you a number of implants to maximise your effectiveness, then you are to create a suitable weapon for your use, after that, you shall investigate, assassinate, and assist in the orders you are relayed. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Master."

"Good. We shall now begin. Prepare yourself."

It was almost time: April 11th, 8:38 PM.

I sat in my workshop, wearing the most recent version of my costume that I'd developed. It was golden-brown, with slight white discolorations on the front and back. Of course, that was just the overlay. Under that, I had numerous servos, kinetic dampeners, and other such things to give me a decent Brute rating, not that I wanted to have a higher threat rating, as that would make people less likely to underestimate me, which is what I wanted. Along with the physical enhancements, I had installed various systems that would make me able to simply think more quickly, a lot of health monitors, and a minor combat computer. It certainly wasn't on par with the one Armsmaster would've used right before he'd became Armmaster, but it was a start. I'd even made shock implats that let me play at being Darth Sidious when I wanted to.

I looked down to examine my helmet. It was partially based off of Zechs' helmet from Gundam Wing, but this had a beak that further invoked the image of a bird of prey, as well as inserts that extended over my cheeks to my jaw, providing more armoring and protection for my identity. The "Eyes" had cameras, visible and infrared, installed in them, and directly replaced the visual input from my eyes with the input from said cameras, at least while I was wearing the helmet. While the helmet was that of a Char clone, I would hopefully not become the main rival to... I guess Taylor? _So, I'm just gonna shut down that line of thought_.

Anyway, I was working on one of my "Side Projects" at the moment. It was a combination of an instantaneous audiovisual recording/transmission device and a device that essentially allowed one to simultaneously be themselves and their past selves, and allowing those selves to essentially share opinions on things. Essentially, it would show somebody a "vision" and then apply the effects of Gold Allomancy, a form of "magic" from an Aleph book I'd once read: _Mistborn_. Come to think of it, the message I was planning on sending was written while channeling Kreia the best I could, making it three separate series that I've drawn inspiration for my Tinkertech from. Once this "Side Project" was finished, I'd call Ghost back from his investigation of Shadow Stalker's misdeeds both in and out of costume in order to have the device discreetly implanted. Thankfully, the "message" part was pretty simple, and the Allomancy imitator was also fairly small, allowing the it to be completely under one's skin and not show any visible signs. At least, that was my hope.

Currently, my surveillance drone was performing routine long-range scans of the Docks, and once it noticed any irregularly shaped areas that blocked the radar, I'd know it was Grue using his power to help the Undersiders flee from Oni Lee, thus allowing me to bring my drone to that area in order to initiate close-range scans for locating Taylor.

I felt at my commlink to Kira: I'd given her implants that allowed for a complete lack of sleep and allowed her to communicate with me. Initially, I'd tried to create an empathic link, but I simply couldn't do it, not in part due to the intense apprehension I was feeling from my shard. Whatever it had against a close melding of two people's minds was beyond me, but it wasn't worth dwelling on, as I'd just decided to go for a simple commlink. Kira was in her room: she'd came by yesterday night and the one before, after I'd prepared Ghost, thankfully, but tonight I wouldn't be in my workshop for that much of the night, and either way, if I went to get her at that moment, her parents might notice, which was not something either of us wanted.

I finished the implant in short order, and felt at my commlink to Ghost. He was examining a place where Shadow Stalker had recently apprehended a mugger. He'd gotten a video of the incident, most notably how she watched the mugging happen, and only after it had been finished had she decided to catch him. It was a bit of evidence, but I could imagine how the PRT would spin it, something along the lines of "Oh, she didn't stop him earlier because she was afraid she might hit the victim", or some other nonsense like that. The incident of her using lethal bolts against Grue was probably months ago, so I'd be unable to investigate that reliably without questioning the Undersiders, and I wasn't quite ready to reveal Ghost just yet, _especially_ not to Tattletale or _anyone_ associated with her. I teleported to Ghost's position, wearing a baggy hoodie with the hood on, baggy sweatpants, and a surprisingly not baggy bandana. I was not going to allow myself to be associated with Ghost, and on the off-chance that Stormtiger, Tattletale, or somebody else able to track Ghost followed him, I didn't want the location of my workshop to be revealed. I spoke. "Hello, my Ghost."

He immediately uncloaked himself, knelt before me, and said, "What is your will, my master?" Yes, I'd gone much farther in my imitation of the Sith, but to be fair, they were pretty cool, regardless of their moral standpoint. Also, it felt kinda good to have dominion over another person - not that I was going to try to extend that dominion to others, it was just that this was one of those things that made me want to begin laughing evilly... it was hard to explain to anyone who hadn't felt it.

"You are to implant _this_ ," I said, holding out the device, "into the back of the head of the youngest member of the household at the address you will be sent. Maintain standard concealment protocols. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, master." He said, taking the implant and fading from view. I checked the time: 10:57, I had been tinkering for longer than I felt I had, but that was to be expected.

A blip inserted itself into my stream of consciousness. I had located Grue, and in doing so, had also found Taylor and Lung. I smiled, teleported back to my workshop, and put on my costume.

 _Time to get this show on the road._

 _AN: I probably won't be able to post that much in the next three weeks, sorry about that, but travel calls._


	6. Hatch Interlude: Taylor

Hatch Interlude: Taylor

 _AN: And I'm back! For two weeks at most..._

Taylor's Swarm was suddenly displaced.

She had recently spotted Lung and a couple of ABB gangbangers when the aforementioned displacement of her swarm occurred. The bugs had somehow been placed in a state of simultaneously being there and not and were promptly moved to locations surrounding the distortion, resolving it somehow. Taylor turned around. Where they'd been now stood a slight girl in what looked like a bird costume. Due to the lighting, the only specific thing Taylor could make out was that the person - obviously a cape - had a helmet that looked extremely advanced, suggesting either a Tinker or somebody with Tinker support. Of course, she could just be faking it: one could never truly know with capes. The other girl leaned against the wall, moving to put her hands into pockets that evidently weren't there, as she then crossed her arms under her chest; however, she faltered again, deciding to stop leaning on the wall, and stand in parade rest instead.

The girl cleared her throat awkwardly. "Are you a hero or a villain?"

"A hero," Taylor responded. She understood the question, though: her costume had turned out much edgier than she wanted. "You?"

"The former. I take it that you have been tracking Lung, as I have?" Receiving a nod from Taylor in response, the cape continued, "Good. I've created a device that should be able to take out Lund nonviolently, yet its use requires the device to effectively be right next to the target. Do you have anything that could help?"

Taylor tilted her head, slightly bemused. "You just teleported, couldn't you do so again?"

"I could," the bird cape replied, "but there is a significant chance that Lung would notice me immediately, and I do not want to get a fireball to the face. What _are_ your powers anyway? I'm a Tinker who can also teleport, for some inexplicable reason."

"I control bugs. All of them."

The other girl whistled in... appreciation? "In that case, could you have some of the stronger ones carry _this,_ " she proffered a small cylinder with one end open, containing some sort of spike, "and put the open end on Lung? Anywhere about the length of this should do."

"Okay..." Taylor answered. She wasn't entirely sure about this, but she also couldn't think of any believable reason - or method - for the other cape to betray her. Of course, that hadn't stopped Emma- _Taylor, Stop. Take a negative and turn it into a positive. That's what you should be doing now_. Taylor hadn't heard of this cape before, meaning that they were either new, from somewhere other than Brockton Bay, or just very inconspicuous. Taylor would've bet on the former. Either way, Taylor had some of her stronger flyers pick the Tinkertech device and carry it to where Lung was. In order to find him, of course, Taylor needed to open herself up to the information from her bugs. He hadn't gone far, he technically was closer now: on the other side of the building she was standing under. The bugs rotated the cylinder and placed it on Lung's bare chest. It jerked once, then Lung collapsed, prompting the ABB mooks -eight of them - to start shouting, looking for what had caused their leader to topple.

The other cape looked back at Taylor. "Thanks, I just used my tech to call this in. While we wait for somebody to get here, I think those ABB thugs should be dealt with. I call dibs since you already got Lung."

Taylor realized she'd forgotten an important question. "What exactly did that do to Lung, anyway?"

The cape tilted her head, then appeared to have a moment of realization. "That just knocked him out, or more specifically, temporarily shut down conscious thought. He's not dead, at least going by conventional existential philosophies... and I'm rambling. Anyway, time to take out the trash."

The other girl shuddered in visible revulsion at that statement, then teleported to the mooks, presumably. Taylor jogged around the buildings to see what was going on. One of the mooks was missing, as was the cape until she reappeared behind two more, knocking their heads together with more strength than should be in somebody with that slight a frame. She appeared over three other gangbangers in succession, dropping one of the knocked out members on top of them each from roughly thirty feet in the air. Two of the bodies were dodged, but one person got hit by one, knocking them out. The cape appeared in the middle of the remaining four. "I suggest you-" She was cut off by one of the men firing on her position, prompting her to teleport behind him, kick him in the back of the knee, and deliver a blow to his wrist, causing him to drop his gun. She held him up by his shoulders in front of her - and the other members of the ABB. "As I was saying before I was so _rudely_ interrupted: I suggest you surrender, put down your guns, and stand with your hands on your head. I imagine it is significantly more pleasant than being knocked out by head trauma or lack of oxygen. _Capisce_?" The three gang members complied, while the one in the cape's arms said something in some foreign language, prompting the cape to respond in that same language. The guy brightened up a bit, saying something. The cape sighed, letting him go, but he decided to turn around and come at the cape with his left hand in a fist. Expecting it, seemingly, the cape parried the blow and delivered a series of kicks to the guy's knee, side, and gut with quite a lot of force, leaving him in the middle of the alleyway, clutching his stomach. The cape looked up, seeing Taylor. "Oh good, you're still here. It would be somewhat harder to convince the cape who's coming, Armsmaster, that you're a hero as well if you went away." She then began to put zip ties on all of the mooks, finishing with the one who was clutching his stomach.

It was at that moment that Armsmaster pulled up in front of the alleyway on his motorcycle. He walked over to Lung, moving to stab him with an attachment that had recently sprouted out of his halberd, but the bird cape raised her hand and spoke. "Personally, I'd advise against that, because Lung is already disabled, making any additional incapacitating agents redundant and potentially dangerous."

"How exactly did you incapacitate him, anyway?" Armsmaster asked.

"I created a device that suppresses conscious thought while inside someone, and then she carried it and covertly implanted it in Lung," The bird cape responded, indicating Taylor, "It couldn't have been done without the two of us."

"That's why we have the Wards program." He stated, without a hint of judgment or pressure in his voice.

The bird cape nodded. "That's why I'm planning on joining."

"And you?" He looked at Taylor with a warm smile.

Taylor considered it. It _was_ a good point: if she hadn't had help, she didn't know what would've happened, probably her dying. Even so...

Her thoughts were cut off by a heavy object hitting her in the small of her back, before her costume - along with her - was pushed to the side of a building. To her left, she could see the same had happened to Armsmaster and the unnamed cape, albeit without the object having hit them. Among other things, they were all facing the same way. As she heard footsteps behind her, she opened her senses to her bugs in order to get a sense of who it was. The last thing she noticed before she drifted into unconsciousness was the impression from her bugs of a tall woman in a cape.

 _Shit_.


	7. Nest 2-1

Nest 2.1

When an invisible presence suddenly pushed Armsmaster, Taylor, and me to the wall, my first instinct was to check for people that could have been attacking us via my radar drone, but then I realized that it was most likely the object that had slammed into Taylor. _Well shit. There is a new telekinetic in the city. Weren't Rune and Krieg enough? Come to think of it, why isn't the person picking up the drone and using it to hit Armsmaster and me... SHIT! They're going to free Lung and the ABB members, and/or attack us with some other weapon._

"Retreat sounds like a good option now," I said at a volume that only Armsmaster should be able to hear, "I can get us out of here, you in?"

"Do it," Armsmaster replied. I immediately went into action, and by "action", I mean running away and not fighting. I teleported the couple inches that would allow me to touch Armsmaster, then glanced at the roof of a nearby building, taking us there. I looked back at where we were, briefly noting that there was nobody there beyond Lung and his gangbangers, meaning that- I saw a gouge suddenly appear on the wall where we just were. _Never mind, they're just invisible. Of course, on top of being telekinetic, they're also invisible._ As quickly as I could, I teleported to Taylor on the other side of her relative to where we'd been, touched her, and then brought her to where Armsmaster was waiting. I then touched him as well and brought us onto a different rooftop, breaking line of sight from where we'd been.

I looked at the Protectorate Tinker. "Should I go get your motorcycle as well?"

"No need." He responded. It promptly teleported next to him and brought out a stretcher after he pressed a button. _How did it- Miniaturization Tinker, got it_. He proceeded to pull Taylor onto it. "Considering you can obviously teleport, could you get us to the PHQ? She could benefit greatly from the in-house doctors there. At that point, you'll be able to undergo the preliminary process for becoming a Ward." I nodded and started blinking the group to the Protectorate Headquarters.

We arrived at the boardwalk in record time, and the Hard Light bridge began to extend. I, yet again, looked to the fellow Tinker. "Should I teleport there, or would that just set off alarms?"

He smiled. "That would be normally the case, yes; however, as I am the leader of the Protectorate here, as well as the creator of most these systems, I can grant special access." He proceeded to punch an odd series of buttons on the keyboard inside his bracer. "And... you're good." I nodded and teleported past the forcefield and onto the front steps of the magnificent building. "Will you need medical care as well?" He asked while the doors opened.

"Even if I had gotten injured, I can just create replacements for whatever was damaged," I responded. Once the massive doors had finished retracting, we started walking, as Armsmaster's motorcycle, still carrying Taylor, began to roll down another hallway marked with a sign that indicated that it had the infirmary, seemingly of its own accord. _Heh, Accord. This all would be so much easier if I had him on my side. Shame he's associated with Cauldron. Why do they get to have all the blatantly OP ones!?_

"In that case," Armsmaster said, breaking me from my thoughts, "You may need to provide your teammate with Tinkertech medical care: she may have gotten a broken spine from that attack, even though she at least _seems_ to be stable at the moment."

"She's not my teammate," I clarified, "we just happened to be doing the same thing at the same time, so I enlisted her aid. As for the upgrades, I'd only do it if she gave me her express consent, not implied consent. If I decided to just do it, then, well, how would you feel about waking up after being knocked out only to realize that you've been operated on by a Tinker you literally just met, and as such do not trust fully?"

"I understand," Armsmaster responded, as we took a turn into a hallway indicated by a sign that indicated "Meeting Spaces". I followed him into one of the smaller rooms, with a table large enough for four people to sit at. "For now, make yourself comfortable, Miss Militia will come by to perform the preliminary interview". He began to raise his hand, presumably an offer for a handshake, but I, more out of instinct than anything, bowed, prompting him to do the same. _Shit, now he'll be slightly more outside of his comfort zone, which- No. Don't make a mountain out of a molehill, focus on bigger issues._

I sat down in one of the surprisingly comfortable chairs and held my armored forehead in my fingers. _Finally, some time to just think._ I sat back, sighing. I couldn't remember any invisible telekinetics, regular memories or otherwise. _Which raises the question: How?_ I tried to get a sense of my Shard's impression of the situation, but there was nothing. I supposed that wasn't too surprising: the times when I was closest to my Shard were when I was in the trademark Tinker Fugue state, during which I was too focused on Tinkering to do much of anything else. In lieu of Shardic aid, I resolved to just think about it and its ramifications myself. I could only assume that this cape came about through a weird butterfly effect that caused somebody to be put in a hostile environment/threatened by something from a distance, and also have way too much attention on themselves. I knew that it wasn't much to go on, but I was more or less just spitballing at that point. From now on, I couldn't rely on my knowledge of events in order to guide me. _In that case, it's probably good that Lung escaped, as he's a stabilizing influence on the ABB, oddly enough._ If he hadn't escaped, but there was still this new cape, then I'd wouldn't have gotten any semblance of an advance warning before Murphy's Law decided that things were going too well for me.

 _Well, time to focus on the present_ , I thought. Miss Militia was going to do the "Preliminary Interview", probably because Armsmaster can't social beyond PR. She was a fellow Noctis Cape, and so far did not know of anybody who was one as well, evidenced by the fact that in the original timeline, she thought " _There were others like her?_ " upon Dragon saying that she didn't need to sleep because of her powers. In light of that, I probably needed to steer the conversation away from the topic of sleep, if only to preserve her relatively good headspace: she would undoubtedly be more than a little conflicted if she thought a little harder about the nature of the Entities, and how they worked. Even so, I should be honest about my nature as a Noctis Cape, and say that I do remember the vision, because I do, but mine was from Abaddon's perspective, even though it was mostly the same. Either way, I should definitely steer the conversation away from that topic.

There didn't seem to be much else to cover at that moment, so I sort of just sat there. Normally, considering all that has happened, I would call Kira, mainly for some much needed emotional support; however, I couldn't be sure of the potential ramifications of contacting somebody from the outside while in the PHQ. I was probably just being paranoid, but it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you. _I mean, sure: they're not out to get me, but still._

My contemplation was thankfully broken by Brockton Bay's gun-toting heroine walking past the threshold and closing the door, a sniper rifle slung across her back. The gun morphed into a combat knife on one of her hip holsters as she sat down on the chair directly across from me. "Considering the time," she began, "I'll keep this short so you can get some rest soon."

 _Fuck!_ I mentally swore, _There goes steering the conversation away from stuff like that_. "Ever since I got my powers," I said, "Sleep has become a thing of the past."

She started a little. "Do you remember the vision?" She asked.

"Of the weird, power-granting entities? Yes," I said, "however, that's not relevant at this point. Please, continue."

She nodded. "Of course. First, I am obligated to note that this conversation is being recorded. Second, what is your current Cape Name?"

"Eagle," I answered.

"Good. You have stated an interest in joining the Wards, is that correct? If so, how interested are you?"

"Yes and very, respectively."

"Why?"

"Resources, training, and the ability to help people in an official capacity."

She smiled, or at least I thought she did, which was an assumption I was pretty confident about, given the ability of humans to extrapolate facial expressions. "If you join the Wards, you may need to reveal your civilian identity to them. Is that acceptable?"

I nodded. "It is."

"On that topic, who knows your civilian identity? If you join, we'll have to ask you to issue them NDAs."

"Just my immediate family and my girlfriend. Four people total."

"Good. Tomorrow, will you and one of your guardians be able to go by the PRT building to pick up the paperwork? Tell the person at the front desk the line on this card, and they will give it to you." She handed me a card that read "I'm a writer. I'm here to ask some questions about Legend as research for a propaganda pamphlet I'm writing." I flipped it over. On the other side, there was a toll-free number listed. "If you need anything, call me at that number. Do you understand?"

I nodded. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Please, just my Cape Name will do. We've been through enough formalities as it is. Your ally is being cared for, I will escort you out." I nodded my assent and followed her out of the PHQ.

 _AN: And that's the last chapter for the next, like, 5 weeks unless I manage to eke out another before the week is out._


End file.
